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Liam Olds

@liamolds.bsky.social

980 followers 280 following 150 posts

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Freelance #entomologist in South Wales & founder of @collieryspoil.bsky.social. Conservation Officer at #Buglife Cymru. Organiser of Oil Beetle Recording Scheme. Obsession with #collieryspoil #brownfields and #invertebrates (especially solitary #bees).

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · 26d

I can't find any reliable proof of that claim, but it would be pretty unusual if so I would have thought.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · 27d

Amazing moment seeing my first ever Purse Web Spider (Atypus affinis) at Broad Haven South Dunes last night (spotted by my colleague Christian Owen). This incredible species is more closely related to the tarantulas and trapdoor than to any other British spider!

@britishspiders.bsky.social

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · 27d

Thousands of Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) at Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire, yesterday. Amazing to watch them, especially the mating balls.

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Reposted by Liam Olds

The British Lichen Society @britishlichensociety.org.uk · Sep 5

An opportunity of a lifetime for budding lichenologists. The National Trust and the Royal Botanics, Edinburgh are offering a PAID lichen traineeship in #Scotland! The work programme looks fascinating and a great opportunity to develop skills. Deadline: 3/10/2025. www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...

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Reposted by Liam Olds

Biological Recording Company @biologicalrecording.co.uk · Sep 5

🪲 Weevils! The UK boasts 600+ species, almost as many as birds! Join us on 13 Oct (7–8pm) for an entoLIVE with @markgurn.bsky.social to explore their ecology, habitats & quirky plant preferences. It is FREE!!! Don’t miss it! 🧪 🌎

🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1491232379...

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Reposted by Liam Olds

Vic Brown @viccbrown.bsky.social · Sep 5

Callicera spinolae, the Ivy Hoverfly, is one of the UK's rarest hoverflies, as well as one of the most spectacular.
This morning, I recorded a female on the Ivy in my S. Cambridgeshire. This is the 5th consecutive year that I have seen this wonderful fly in my garden, four days earlier than before.

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Reposted by Liam Olds

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · Sep 4

Why do we have to fight to protect already protected areas? Coul is an SSSI - seems to mean nothing if you have money and want to build a golf course. We do not need another golf course.

Please sign this petition to protect #nature and our beautiful home.

#coul

action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...

Save Coul Links!

Your voice could help save this precious habitat from a new threat of development.

action.rspb.org.uk

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Reposted by Liam Olds

Mark Gurney @markgurn.bsky.social · Sep 2

If you want to identify, well, anything, I recommend this post from @weevil-see.bsky.social. His choice of weevils to illustrate it is of course excellent, but it applies to everything from mushrooms to marsupials. This is how you can be a good identifier of things.

[Link contains spider]

Jakob Jilg @weevil-see.bsky.social · Aug 8

I started a blog and my first post is online!
The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think!

weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

Species Identifications: Common Pitfalls

Some thoughts about Identifications. How do we identify properly? How do we avoid mistakes?

weevil-see.github.io

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Reposted by Liam Olds

Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative @collieryspoil.bsky.social · Sep 1

🐞🌿 Join us for Blaenavon Biodiversity Day on Sat 20 Sept!
Guided walks with local experts on insects, fungi, birds + more.
Don’t miss @liamolds.bsky.social from @collieryspoil.bsky.social leading an insect/invertebrate walk!

📍 Blaenavon | 🗓️ 20 Sept

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 28

Join the Buglife Cymru Coal Spoil Connections team, Lost Peatlands Project - Prosiect Adfer Mawndiroedd, KeyCreate, and others for a WildBlitz at Clydach Vale Country Park!

🗓️ Friday 29 August
🕙 10:30 - 15:00
📌 Clydach Vale Country Park

No need to book, just turn up at Cambrian Colliery Memorial.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 23

Wow 😬 just a few Metellina merianae outside here

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 23

Thanks ☺️

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 23

Your house is very much like mine then with the spiders left in peace 😁

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 23

😂

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 23

Autumn is almost upon us 🍁

Almost on cue, a male House Spider (Eratigena saeva) appeared in the bathroom overnight. Last sighting in the house (also a male) was last autumn on 17th September 2024.

Male palps shown in pictures.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 22

Sounds wise. Thanks for your advice Tristan - much appreciated!

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 22

Do you think it'd be worth looking for the nymphs in autumn @britishbugs.bsky.social?

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 22

It was a struggle to find the foodplant at most sites. Reduced grazing/ disturbance has definitely contributed. Linney Burrows and Broomhill Burrows are in especially poor condition.

Reposted by Liam Olds

Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative @collieryspoil.bsky.social · Aug 21

Hieroglyphic Ladybird (Coccinella hieroglyphica) from heathland at Sirhowy Hill Woodlands, Blaenau Gwent, this morning.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 22

Thanks for looking Tylan! Glad you found Attulus saltator ☺️

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 22

We found one live adult at Broadhaven Dunes, but otherwise nothing across all the sand dunes in south Pembrokeshire 😞 we were hoping to at least find nymphs! I assume early August wasn't too late? A lot of the sites are seemingly in poor condition for the bug.

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's always a pleasure to encounter the striking snail-killing fly Coremacera marginata, the larvae of which attack terrestrial snails. Seen at Avon Wildlife Trust's Burledge Hill Nature Reserve today.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 19

The satellite fly Miltogramma punctata, Lesne's Earwig (Forficula lesnei), the weevil Rhinocyllus conicus, the spider-hunting wasp Ceropales maculata, Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum) and the tephritid fly Acanthiophilus helianthi were among some of the finds today on a #Cardiff brownfield site.

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Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 14

Yes, saw a few Fen Rafts but didn't bother posting as I've now seen them each time I visit 😅

Liam Olds @liamolds.bsky.social · Aug 14

The Nationally Scarce jumping spider Marpissa nivoyi, seen along the Tennant Canal at Jersey Marine yesterday. Though the species occurs mainly on coastal sand dunes, I've only ever encountered it in wetlands near the coast.

@britishspiders.bsky.social @sewbrec.org.uk

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